NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF TENNESSEE — WETMORE 207 



Breeding specimens from 2,900 feet elevation at Shady Valley are 

 definitely of the paulus type, a male shot June 5 having the wing 290 

 and the culmen from base 48.8 mm, while a female taken on June 7 

 has the wing 295 and the culmen from base 45.3 mm. These two agree 

 with a breeding bird from White Top Mountain, Va., a short distance 

 away to the northeast. A female collected in Lincoln County, Tenn., 

 6 miles west of Fayetteville, November 1, measures as follows : Wing 

 297, culmen from base 46.9. It also is considered paulus. 



Family PARIDAE 



PENTHESTES ATRICAPILLUS PRACTICUS Oberholser: Appalachian, 



Chickadee 



In the higher elevations of the Great Smoky Mountains the black- 

 capped chickadee though not conunon is found in fair numbers. 

 Adult males were taken at 6,300 feet on Old Black Mountain on June 

 21 and 25, at 6,600 feet on Mount Guyot on June 21, and at 6,100 feet 

 on Inadu Knob on June 24 and 26. 



In commenting recently on a series of these chickadees from the 

 mountains of West Virginia,^^ I noted the slightly darker color of 

 those birds compared with specimens from New York, New England, 

 and Ontario. Since then Dr. Oberholser has described these southern 

 mountain birds as Penthestes atricapiUus practicus?^ After com- 

 parison of the series of these chickadees in the U. S. National Mu- 

 seum, I am prepared to recognize this as a distinct race though its 

 characters are comparatively slight. Spechnens in worn breeding 

 dress are most distinct, as the southern birds then are darker gray 

 above. In fall and winter plumage they appear very slightly darker 

 than the similar stage from the north, so that individual specimens 

 can often be separated only with difficulty. This race will include 

 those specimens noted above from West Virginia listed previously as 

 Penthestes a. atricapillus. 



PENTHESTES CAROLINENSIS CAROLINENSIS (Audubon): Carolina 



Chickadee 



The nominate race of the Carolina chickadee differs from the 

 northern subspecies extimus in being darker gray on the back and 

 rump, paler buffy brown on the sides and flanks (especially in fall 

 and winter dress), and in averaging very slightly smaller. It is 

 interesting to find this form spread over eastern and central Ten- 



«3 Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 84, 1937, p. 416. 



»* Penthestes atricapillus practicus Oberholser, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 50, Dec. 

 28, 1937, p. 220 (Mount Guyot, Great Smoky Mountains, N. C.) 

 106951—39 5 



